Meltdown is that magical combination of being insanely absurd and funny while also proffering a very strong character-driven story. Red Dwarf firing on all cylinders.
PLOT
The crew are accidentally teleported across space to Waxworld, an abandoned amusement park where robot recreations of historical figures have developed self-awareness and engaged in war with each other. Seeing it as the oppurtunity of a lifetime, Rimmer takes charge of the dwindling 'hero' celebrities to play war games, oblivious to the lives he's wasting.
ANALYSIS
If what Craig Charles says on the DVD commentary is accurate, Meltdown was the worst rated episode of the original run. I'm honestly really baffled. Aside from the budget-saving device of having Lister narrate what happens to Winnie the Pooh in the Nazi encampment instead of the audience seeing it, I'm hard-pressed to find anything to criticise at all. And even that sequence is still very funny.
The story's military theme is present from the opening skit (a bit of thematic cohesion that you don't actually often find in this period of Red Dwarf), which focuses on Rimmer rambling on about his past Risk games, re-establishing his admiration for dictators and conquerors. Why he loves them so much is pretty obvious. They're in total control of their lives and the lives of others, and spend said lives trying to gain even more control. Rimmer - unable to cope with his many failures - is desperate to dominate anything in his life, to achieve any kind of glory (without putting in the work).
Waxworld is uniquely suited to Rimmer's psychological needs. He finds a submissive group of "soldiers", all of whom are just inhuman enough to silence his conscience. And because he's trapped there with them, he's compelled to control something. So he loses himself into the delusion of being a war general. A perfect parody of warmongering.
It's really phenomenal writing. Having some military experience, I'll admit I have a personal bias towards this type of story and it's just a lot of fun for me to watch them train and banter and scheme to win the war. I suppose I'm not too different from Rimmer in that regard.
We also have Lister taking his customary role as Rimmer's equal and opposite. These two have had some blazing rows in the past, they've been nuisances to each other. But this might be the only time where Lister genuinely seems like an enemy to Rimmer. The scene of him coldly staring Rimmer down and bluntly stating that he will not let this happen are uncharacteristically serious and biting for Red Dwarf, not to mention the sobering anti-war tirade at the end. I believe that speech in particular was why this episode was singled out as being hokey, but I don't think there's anything wrong with a bit of earnestness. Just because 'Star Trek crap' was too early for the morning doesn't mean we shouldn't have any of it. It adds humanity to the show and gives us a bigger reason to root for Lister than simply finding him endearing.
CHARACTERS
I almost regret showering Chris Barrie with praise for Dimension Jump, not because he didn't deserve it, but because he's so much funnier here in this quasi-General Patton role, chewing the scenery to splinters with pompous speeches and snide asides to his followers (poor Gandhi got the worst of it!). This episode might end up being my favourite of his Rimmer performances, every moment with him was a total delight. Kryten is cast into the role of playing straight man to Rimmer's insanity, giving Robert Llewelyn a change to gawp helplessly and hilariously at the screen on more than one occasion.
I've not had much to say about Danny John-Jules for the past few reviews. They've really downplayed the Cat. I don't know if Danny had some reaction to this, but he's stopped doing the Cat's distinctive voice and mannerisms. It's not like he gives a terrible performance or anything (certainly nowhere near as horrid as series 1 Cat), he's still funny and cool and all that, but I'm missing some of the energy.
NOTES
- Craig's pronounciation of "ungrippedness" is a thing of beauty.
- I love the way Rimmer defuses the obvious 'Rimmer is a coward' joke by citing that the reason he cannot be part of the away team to Waxworld is because he's a hologram. Same goes for Kryten mocking the kaiju film archive footage used to depict dinosaurs attacking him and Rimmer.
- This episode introduces Rimmer's light bee, replacing the 'Hologrammatic Projection Cage' and perhaps retroactively explaining how Rimmer was able to leave the ship in previous episodes (maybe the cage was only used for when the light bee got broken).
- What's with the weird pixelated scene transitions?
- Shamefully, no one in the audience laughed at "They're gonna hang us!" "Hang on, hang on!"
- Most of the celebrities look quite spot-on, but Rasputin is a bit crap. No wonder he got no lines.
- Clayton Mark (who portrayed Elvis) was arrested for pedophilia and rape. Cheerful.
- In case you're wondering why I'm onboard with the depiction of Rimmer as a dangerous lunatic here and not in Bodyswap, it's because he doesn't actually threaten the crew. So I find the idea of Lister keeping him switched on more plausible.
- Why is Holly in this episode? Not that I mind, but when they reveal her, I can't help wondering why Lister doesn't just get her to stop Rimmer. Or why her face is plastered on the lamp of Rimmer's motorbike.
- The episode is largely a parody of the 1973 film Westworld.
I know Rimmer's Risk story is intentionally boring and unfunny, but I wish the scene had some funny oneliner to tie it up before Kryten appeared.
CONCLUSION
It's a spectacular war film parody in classic Red Dwarf style, with Rimmer at his most gloriously smeggy. I love it.
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